


domestic partners

by dayisdawning



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: (not of the time variety), Astoria has a strong emotional presence, Comfort, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Holidays, Other, Scorbus, Travel, nonbinary Scorpius, scorbus on aeroplanes, they lied to the aeroplane company and said they were domestic partners, truly far too emotional a setup for such an obscure scenario, why? because i can
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23212120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayisdawning/pseuds/dayisdawning
Summary: The one in which Albus and Scorpius use Astoria’s frequent flyer points to go on holiday together and there is far too much wholesome emotional content for such a contrived scenario.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 13
Kudos: 36





	1. Scene 1 - Slytherin Dormitory

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based upon the experience my wonderful friend and I had trying to book flights together, where we found ourselves in a truly fanfic-worthy scenario. Despite the mental gymnastics required to make this premise work in the wizarding world, there is no pairing I would rather write for at this time than scorbus. I hope you enjoy!

Albus strode into the dormitory he shared with Scorpius and dramatically collapsed face-first onto his friend’s bed.

“I have had,” he said, voice muffled by the bedsheets, “the _longest_ day.”

Scorpius peered down at Albus from behind their dogeared copy of _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_ and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure, Albus?” they asked. “Because I think you’ll find that today has had the same number of seconds in it as yesterday, and the day before it too, in fact.” 

Albus let out a small huff and rolled onto his back so he could properly look at his friend, lightly flicking their leg in mock annoyance. “You know what I mean, Scorpius.” he said. “We were up at the crack of dawn finishing that Transfiguration essay, and it’s just been non-stop since then. At least you got to relax in your spare periods whilst I suffered through _double_ Care of Magical Creatures - which I will remind you is a very physical endeavour!” Albus, who had risen slightly onto his elbows throughout his exclamation, promptly flopped back down onto the bed in defeat.

Scorpius laughed softly. “You’ll be okay, Albus. You know we’ve only got a month left until our NEWTs, and then all will be well again.” They shuffled to one side of the bed, putting down their textbook and patting the new space beside them for Albus to crawl up into. “Think of all the freedom we’ll have once we’re done!”

“Shhh, that’s a banned topic, that is!” Albus exclaimed as he climbed up the bed. “No talk about what we’re doing post-Hogwarts!” Reaching the top of the bed and becoming level with Scorpius, Albus leaned over and rested his head on his friend’s chest, closing his weary eyes. The seventh years didn’t seem to be able to go anywhere these days without someone asking ‘what are you going to do once you finish school?’ and Albus, who didn’t have a clue, found the topic to be very draining. He knew that the one place he wouldn’t be pestered by thoughts of his uncertain future was when he was alone with his best friend - partly because Scorpius knew him so well that they instinctively _understood_ his unease and trepidation, but also because they had made a pact not to talk about it unless the conversation was instigated by Albus himself. At the same time, however, Scorpius was also the only person Albus felt he might be willing to discuss such things with. It was one of the many dichotomous feelings he had regarding his friend.

“Well, you don’t have to think about what you’re capital-D Doing post-Hogwarts,” Scorpius said, absent-mindedly moving their hand to play with Albus’ hair. “Focus on the little things to get you through: Being able to spend all day out in the sun. Going out at night without needing to be sneaky about it. Going on holidays - oooh!” Scorpius gasped, the sudden motion prompting Albus to open his eyes. “We could go on a holiday!”

“We could what?”

“A holiday, Albus, together!” Scorpius was getting rather excited now, and Albus quickly moved himself off their chest to avoid his friend accidentally hitting him in the face whilst gesticulating. “You and I: overage, finished school, no responsibilities - we should go away somewhere! Actually I was just reading about -” they broke off and retrieved the textbook they had discarded only moments before, searching for the right page. “Here!” they said, pointing to a passage halfway down the page labelled _Post-High School Traditions of the Teenaged Muggle_. “This is actually something that muggles our age often do after they finish school! Friends will go away for a little while, without their parents, as a celebration. Or they might take a ‘gap year’ which means going away for an entire _year_ before coming back to continue on with life - not that I’m suggesting we do that!” they added hastily. “But, well, just because we don’t have a few months of limbo before going off to University like some muggles do doesn’t mean we can’t go on a trip ourselves!” 

Albus had very little idea of what ‘University’ was, but Scorpius’ enthusiasm was infectious, and he found himself nodding along all the same as they continued. “It’s not as if there’s a deadline for when we need to get started on our life after Hogwarts, and after the time we’ve had in the past few years we are well within our rights to take some time to ourselves. I think going on a holiday would give us something really fun to look forward to after exams, don’t you?” 

Too focused on the way Scorpius’ whole face lit up as they spoke so passionately, their eyes widening and dimples crinkling, it took Albus a moment to realise that his friend was waiting for a response as he stared at them with a faint smile. 

“Oh, uh, yes. Yes!” He managed to say. Scorpius’ face, if possible, became even brighter.

“Yes?” they repeated. Albus nodded eagerly in response. “Oh, wizzo! I know this idea has only been in the air a few minutes but in that time I have grown very fond of it.”

“It’s a great idea, Scorp.” Albus said encouragingly. “Honestly, I really need something concrete in the next few months to think about other than ‘exams’ or ‘the future’. It’ll help make the days less long.”

Scorpius gave him a fond smile and wriggled down the bed until they were lying horizontally looking up at the ceiling. The green roof of the Slytherin dormitory was enchanted to show water-like swirls made up of shades of green, with the speed of the swirling mirroring the currents in the lake above them. Albus would often gaze at the patterns for hours at night as he struggled to fall asleep. He found it soothing.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, once they had settled properly on the bed. “So what should we do? Travel around different places? Touristy things? Relaxation? Skiing? Extreme sports - oh, Albus, we could go skydiving -”

“Whoa, Scorpius, hold up,” said Albus, who had shuffled down and was now propped up on an elbow next to Scorpius, their faces close together. “Don’t you think we’ve had enough excitement without adding in extreme sports? Besides, I’m sure we could think of a way to use magic to go skydiving right now if you really wanted to, we don’t need a holiday for that.” Albus smiled and lowered himself onto his back, the pair’s shared laughter floating upwards towards the swirling currents.

“Okay, so no skydiving then,” Scorpius conceded.

“Relaxation instead?” Albus suggested, turning his head to look at his friend. “Like I said, we’ve had a hectic time at Hogwarts. Could be nice to disappear off to a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere and just, like, exist for a week.”

Scorpius laughed, and the sound made Albus’ heart beat faster. “I support the relaxation, Albus, but I could do without the complete isolation. As lovely as it would be to have no one but you and me for miles and miles, maybe we could go somewhere closer to a town so we can buy food and other supplies if we need to?”

Albus blushed and pointedly looked back up at the ceiling. “A beach town?” He suggested, and felt Scorpius nod eagerly beside him. “Relaxing, fairly secluded, but with shops in close proximity.”

“Wonderful - ooh and we’ll be able to swim! Warm beachy waters would definitely beat a dip in the lake with the giant squid,” they said, gesturing above their heads to where said squid was undoubtedly lurking. 

“We should probably venture out of England, then,” Albus remarked, “if it’s beaches we’re looking for.”

“France?” Scorpius proposed eagerly. “I can speak some French, that would be fun!”

Albus, who often found his thoughts inexplicably returning to the few times he had heard his friend speak the language, was only too happy to agree. “France sounds wonderful, Scorp,” he said, rolling over onto his side to look at his friend.

Scorpius hummed in agreement, but their eyes had become unfocused and Albus could tell that something in their conversation had consumed their thoughts. His friend often did this, jumping through ideas at a rapid rate before fixating on one, entering a reverie as they took the time to consider something deeply. Albus reached over and took Scorpius’ hand, brushing his thumb back and forth over their skin as they thought. 

Scorpius eventually spoke, breaking the not altogether uncomfortable silence that had risen between them. “I used to go travelling a lot with Mum and Dad when I was younger,” they said. “Often to France - our family was originally from there - but to other countries, too.”

Albus nodded and squeezed their hand; it was always a good sign when Scorpius felt comfortable enough to talk about their Mum. 

Scorpius smiled softly. “Mum loved to see new places, and the warmer weather was good for her. Dad was always very happy to join her - I know he liked it more than he let on. I think it helped, y’know? For him to get out of the mansion for a while. But… Mum was never able to travel using magic.” 

As they spoke, Scorpius turned towards Albus and curled up opposite him, so that the two of them were eye to eye. “I told you that she couldn’t apparate, yeah? All that magic messing around with your physical form, it didn’t go well with her condition.”

Albus, who had not let go of Scorpius’ hand, took the opportunity to lace their fingers together.

“So that meant that she wasn’t able to floo or use portkeys either,” Scorpius continued. “And brooms were always out of the question - they were too physical - so we would travel the way muggles do: on aeroplanes.”

Albus’ eyes widened. “I remember my Grandpa mentioning them - aren’t they those huge car-like things muggles somehow fly in?”

Scorpius laughed softly, releasing some of the weight of the conversation. “Yes, essentially, except they go much faster than cars and they’re more like trains in that they take a few hundred people at once. Most muggles don’t personally own or fly one.”

Albus shifted his legs to a more comfortable position, inadvertently brushing against Scorpius’. He was about to move them away, but decided against it. “Well, that makes sense,” he said. “I suppose we would know about it if all muggles suddenly developed the means to fly.”

“That’s true, very true. But yes, when you fly on a plane you just - it’s just gorgeous, Albus,” they confess, eyes alight with wonder. “They take you up far higher than you ever go on a broom, because the air that high gets hard to breathe so you’d need a bubble-head charm - but the muggles have figured out how to get along without all of that, they have this thing called _pressurisation_ where they… anyway.” They broke off sheepishly, but Albus smiled at them. He didn’t mind Scorpius’ tangents - in fact, he found them endearing. 

“You’re so high up that you’re on top of the clouds!” they continued. “And I remember taking planes with Mum and Dad, and the flying was just as exciting as getting to the destination, because it was unlike anything else we had seen. Anyway I-” Scorpius looked off to the side. “I know it’s unconventional and you aren’t the biggest fan of heights and, oh, it would take a lot longer than magical transport but -”

“Scorpius.” Albus interrupted, tightening his grip on their hand and locking eyes with his friend. “Yes. I would love to take a plane to France with you.”

“Oh.” A small smile grew on Scorpius’ face. “Well. That’s nice.”

Albus grinned. “Very nice,” he replied. “So, how do we go about flying by plane? Do we just rock up to the plane station and -” he was interrupted by Scorpius bursting into surprised laughter.

“ _Airport_ , Albus, it’s called an airport!” they exclaimed, their chuckles vibrating across the bed. “Sorry,” they breathed, “there’s no reason why you would’ve known that but, ‘plane station’? Like it’s a train, oh Merlin, I -” they broke off into further laughter, curling their head into Albus’ chest so that he was breathing in their lemon-scented hair, and Albus found himself involuntarily joining in. Scorpius’ mirthful joy was always so infectious, especially when it mirrored the warmth he felt at having his friend so close to him.

“Okay, so when we go to the _airport_ ,” he teasingly emphasised as Scorpius recovered, relaxing onto their back, “the _airport_ that is not a plane station, is it similar to a train station at least? Do we buy tickets to get on the plane, or?”

Scorpius hummed endearingly as they considered this. “I always remember having the tickets ready to go when we arrived there,” they said. “I don’t know how we got them though? Maybe Mum and Dad had to post in a form or something. I’ll owl Dad tomorrow and ask!” 

Brightening further at the thought of communicating with their Dad, Scorpius reached over to their bedside table where Albus knew they kept a meticulous to-do list, and rummaged for a quill. 

“That sounds great, Scorp,” Albus said, turning up to gaze at the swirling ceiling as his friend updated their list. “I’m really glad you brought this up, y’know? Even just talking about it made me forget about all the studying and exams we have ahead of us.”

Scorpius looked over and smiled. “Is your day feeling less long, now?” they asked.

Albus thought back over the wearying events of his day and compared them to the past half hour spent with Scorpius, who somehow always managed to fill him with new energy. He laughed softly. “No,” he said, looking across to his friend. “The day’s still long. But it’s not quite so trying with you here in it.”

A small, shy smile appeared on Scorpius’ face, prompting Albus to turn his gaze pointedly back to the shifting greens of the roof. When he looked back, several moments later, Scorpius was still smiling at him.

“What are you thinking?” Albus asked softly.

“Oh,” Scorpius said, shifting in place. “Just that… I think we’re going to have a really wonderful holiday together.”

It was Albus’ turn to smile. “Yeah?” he asked. Scorpius nodded sincerely, their hair falling across their face, and Albus knew with a warm, sweeping certainty that they were right.

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for part two wherein Scorpius and Albus book their flights, Draco contributes to your daily dose of quality Malfoy content, and the meaning behind this fic's title becomes clear. Until then, much love to you all. Take care of yourselves, and stay safe <3


	2. Scene 2 - Malfoy Manor

It had been one week since Albus had left Hogwarts, a week which he had spent catching up on much needed sleep, interacting with many family members, and pointedly not thinking about how much he was thinking about Scorpius. Albus hummed to himself as he threw some clothes into an overnight bag - a habit he had picked up from his friend. This should not be concerning him, he thought. Albus had seen Scorpius nearly every day for the majority of the past seven years - it was not as if he was lacking time spent with his best friend. They normally spent most of the holidays apart in any case.

But Albus couldn’t help but acutely notice Scorpius’ absence. Over the past year, they had become closer than ever, and his bedroom at the Potter’s felt empty without a second, blonde presence just a few meters away. Lying in bed unable to sleep, Albus was no longer able to speak aloud what was on his mind, receiving a sleepy, comforting comment in return. He kept slipping up and accidentally speaking anyway, before realising that his friend was miles and miles away.

It was ridiculous, but Albus sometimes found himself tempted to jump downstairs to the fireplace and floo over to Malfoy Manor in the middle of the night. After all, they _were_ wizards. What was a little distance in the magical world? But Albus didn’t think Scorpius would appreciate being awoken in the middle of the night, and during the day they were probably doing things with their Dad - their relationship had gotten so much stronger over the past few years. Besides, Scorpius would probably think it was weird that he was missing them so much after only a few days. Albus knew he certainly did.

Regardless, this was all water under the bridge because now, a week after returning home, was the time that Albus and his friend had agreed to meet to plan their post-Hogwarts holiday. Albus swung his packed bag up from the floor and started off down the stairs, a spring in his step.

“Muuuuuum, Daaaaaad!!” He hollered, once he reached the living room and neither of his parents were anywhere to be seen. “I’m going to Scorpius’s!”

Ginny’s head popped out from behind a railing on the landing above him. “Alright, Al! Have a wonderful time - give Scorpius and Draco our love and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, will do,” Albus replied, and gave his Mum a small wave before heading over to the fireplace. He grabbed a pinch of floo powder, threw it into the fireplace, and decisively stepped into the now-green flames.

“Malfoy Manor!” He declared, and was swept up into the floo system, being sucked through a maze of fireplaces as he twisted and turned up and down, left and right, until finally, when he had lost all sense of direction, he was spat out onto a rug and immediately engulfed in a hug.

“Albus!” Scorpius exclaimed, and despite Albus’ disorientation his arms instinctively found their way around Scorpius’ back, tightening around his best friend.

“Hi,” Albus breathed, his voice muffled by Scorpius’ jumper.

The two friends lay there for a moment, intertwined as they each took in the returned presence of the other. Albus inhaled Scorpius’ comforting lemon-y scent and felt the tension in his body melt away. He pressed his face deeper into the jumper.

“I missed you,” said Scorpius eventually, as they untangled themself from Albus and stood up, offering a hand to help Albus to his feet. Albus averted his gaze from his friend’s as he took their hand. “I missed you, too,” he confessed, a shy smile growing on his face.

Scorpius beamed. “Well, isn’t it good we’re back together, then! Come on, let’s get your stuff upstairs,” they said, and before Albus could stop them they had scooped up his bag, grabbed his hand, and was leading him out of the living room and down the hallway. 

Albus laughed as he was pulled along. “Scorpius, I can carry my own bag!” he protested, but only received bubbling laughter from his friend in turn. 

“You’re a guest, silly, guests shouldn’t have to carry their bags!” Scorpius replied, squeezing Albus’ hand as they did so, and Albus’ heart grew even fuller.

The pair arrived at Scorpius’ room and Albus immediately beelined for Scorpius’ bed, breathing heavily as he sank onto it - in Scorpius’ high spirits they had decided to bound up the stairs, laughing as they tugged Albus’ hand and brought him up with them.

Scorpius deposited Albus’ bag on top of the transfigured bed that had been set up for him at the end of their own, and moved to sit down next to him. Albus absentmindedly wondered whether he’d be using the bed tonight, since the two of them so often had ended up falling asleep in the same bed after staying up late talking at Hogwarts. 

A soft knock came from the doorframe and Albus looked up to see Scorpius’ Dad standing in the doorway.

“Good morning, Albus,” Draco said, inclining his head towards him before turning his gaze to Scorpius, a small smile forming on his face. “I just wanted to check in with the two of you now that you’re here. Were you wanting to book the tickets for your trip now, or shall I come back later?” 

Scorpius beamed and jumped up from the bed, tugging Albus’ arm as they did so. “Absolutely! That is, after all, the primary goal for today so I think we should get right onto it - if that’s okay with you, Albus?” They turned back to Albus as they spoke, their eyes alight with anticipation. Albus locked eyes with them and nodded warmly.

“Oh, wizzo!” Scorpius said. “Okay, Dad, lead on.” 

Draco looked fondly at his child before leading Scorpius and Albus down the stairs and through the hallway until they reached a room filled with books that Albus had come to know over the years as Astoria’s library. The two friends looked on inquisitively as Draco went to the far side of the room where stood a chest of drawers. He opened the bottom drawer, rummaged through it for a few moments, and then pulled out what looked to Albus like a metallic sheet of thick parchment.

“This,” Draco said, closing the drawer carefully and heading towards one of the library’s armchairs, “is called a laptop.” 

Scorpius nodded with understanding and hurried towards their Dad to take a closer look; Albus followed, assuming that they had learnt all about this strange ‘laptop’ and its functions in their Muggle Studies class. 

Draco ran his hand along the edge of the laptop before pulling upwards, and to Albus’ surprise the metal sheet unfolded itself, revealing a shiny black interior which lit up after a few seconds.

“Oh!” Albus exclaimed, feeling his memory jog at the sight of the screen, “is it a -” he paused, trying to remember the word from when his Granddad had shown him one, “ - computer?” 

Scorpius turned to him, beaming proudly, and Albus felt rather pleased with himself. “Yes!” his friend said. “It’s a type of computer that is smaller and lighter than usual - the normal muggle computers are big and heavy and sit on tables, but this one you can carry around and use wherever you like, you just sit it on top of your lap and open it up; that’s why it’s called a _lap_ -top.” 

“That’s right, Scorpius,” Draco said approvingly, as he used what Albus thought was called a _keypad_ to make the pictures and writing on the screen change. “Muggles use these devices to communicate with each other over distances, and do other useful things like writing documents using the keyboard -” _that’s_ what it was called, thought Albus, “- which is a lot faster than quills on parchment, and, of course, the reason we are here: making _online bookings_.” 

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other quizzically; here, Draco’s knowledge of the computer’s capabilities surpassed their own.

“Bookings?” Scorpius asked, “Like… booking our aeroplane tickets?”

Draco smiled, “Exactly. As well as being able to communicate with each other individually, muggles have worked out how to communicate with other computers that let you book tickets to things, like aeroplane flights.”

Both Albus and Scorpius huddled closer to Draco’s chair, peering across his shoulders and looking expectantly at the laptop screen.

“This was the reason we got this laptop in the first place, of course. Your mother,” Draco said, turning his head and addressing Scorpius, “was very open to exploring muggle technology. She always thought that there could be such great inventions and advancements made if we witches and wizards stopped shunning muggle technology and started incorporating it into our own lives.” 

Scorpius nodded intensely, their gaze fixed upon their father. Albus knew that Scorpius loved hearing details about their mother that they had been too young to pick up on when she was alive, and remained quiet as Draco continued.

“Whilst the healers told her she would never be able to travel again, her open-mindedness and longing for adventure resulted in us finding an alternative to magical travel, and aeroplanes suddenly became a big part of our lives,” Draco exhaled softly, “as you know, of course.”

Albus recalled the many times in the past months that Scorpius, enraptured, had described to him their experiences flying with their parents, and found himself slightly overwhelmed by the mild absurdity of him standing with his best friend and their Dad about to book tickets to fly on a muggle aeroplane. He leaned against his friend slightly, and Scorpius slipped an arm around him as they spoke to their Dad.

“So, is that why you got the laptop?” they asked. “To book the plane tickets?”

“Indeed,” Draco nodded. “We haven’t -” he broke off and looked away from Scorpius. “I haven’t used it in many years.” His eyes were now fixed on the computer screen.

Albus brought his hand up to meet the one Scorpius had placed around his waist, weaving their fingers together and stroking the back of their hand with his thumb, whilst Scorpius simultaneously moved their other hand to squeeze their Dad’s shoulder.

Draco leaned his head slightly against Scorpius’ hand before he straightened his back and properly turned his attention to the laptop. The two friends watched in wonder as Draco fiddled around with the keyboard (the _keyboard_ , Albus thought proudly) until he somehow made an image of some aeroplanes appear on the screen, alongside what looked to be a calendar and some writing. 

“Here we are,” Draco said, “This is how you can book your tickets.”

Albus and Scorpius huddled behind Draco and he explained to them how to go about using the computer to buy the tickets. Albus was particularly enthused by being taught how to use not just the _keyboard_ but also the _touchpad_ , and decided that he was going to take control of these once he and Scorpius were in possession of the laptop. Draco also said something strange about “frequent flying points”, but Albus hadn’t really followed that part too closely and hoped Scorpius would have sufficient understanding for the both of them.

Explanation complete, Draco got up from the armchair and handed the laptop to Scorpius, who unwound their arm from around Albus and took it reverently, sitting down in the chair themself before carefully placing the device on top of their lap. Albus walked around from behind the back and perched next to Scorpius on the arm of the chair. 

Draco looked down at them, his face softening. “I am truly glad you two have decided to travel this way,” he said, and Albus felt Scorpius straighten slightly in the chair beside him. “It would’ve made your mother very happy.”

He turned and left the room, and Albus turned to see Scorpius gazing ahead, their eyes distant with a small smile on their face. 

Albus ruffled their hair softly. “C’mon,” he said, bringing Scorpius’ attention back to the present, “let’s get ticket booking.”

Scorpius looked up at him, blinked, and then nodded before shuffling over in the armchair and patting the newly vacant spot next to them. Albus laughed hesitantly, but it was a rather luxurious and spacious armchair and after all, who was he to deny himself the comfort of snuggling up against his best friend?

Once they were settled, Scorpius moved the laptop across so that it balanced between them on their touching legs, and Albus jumped at the chance to take control of the touchpad. 

“Okay,” he said as two of them surveyed the screen, “so first we have to choose the -” Albus turned pointedly to look at Scorpius “- _airport_ that we are leaving from, so that would be London.”

Albus looked down at the keyboard, searching for each of the letters ‘l-o-n-d-o-n’ before pressing them so they could appear on the little bar on the screen. He started off well - ‘l’, ‘o’ and ‘n’ were close together, but he couldn’t find ‘d’ right away. Scorpius beat him to it, excitedly tapping the key where they had found it on their side of the keyboard, before Albus finished off the word with a repeat of the ‘o-n’.

“Oooh,” intoned Scorpius, watching as the picture on the screen changed as the airport options appeared.

“Oh,” they said, a few seconds later. “There are multiple London airports?”

The pair puzzled at the screen, where not one but multiple options had appeared. After a moment, Albus laughed. “Well, that one’s in Canada,” he said, pointing to the option which said _London (CA), Canada_. “Do you fancy going there instead?” he teased, glancing towards Scorpius, “Trade one London for another?”

His friend’s mouth twitched. “Nah,” they said with a smile. “It’ll be too cold - I’ve become very attached to the idea of our beach.”

Albus’ insides warmed at that particular phrasing. “Beach it is,” he agreed. The two of them looked back down at the remaining two options, _London (Gatwick)_ and _London (Heathrow)_ , which both had _United Kingdom_ written after them. Albus absentmindedly fiddled with the touchpad whilst he watched Scorpius’ face as they thought.

“So, a choice of two airports,” Scorpius began. “Well, we could - oh! Albus!” they broke off suddenly and grabbed Albus’ arm. “Do that again!”

Albus furrowed his brow. “Do what again?”

“You made something appear on the screen next to one of the options!” said Scorpius, excitedly.

Albus looked down to where his fingers had been drawing circles on the touchpad, and then watched the screen as he continued to move the cursor around - consciously this time. When the cursor passed over the _London (Heathrow)_ option, the words _recurrent in your past trips_ suddenly appeared next to it.

“Yes!” said Scorpius, enthused, turning to Albus. “You got it back!” 

Smiling, Albus leaned his head against Scorpius’ for a moment before pulling away. “Looks like the Heathrow airport is where you went with your parents. Shall we go there, then?”

At his friend’s enthusiastic nodding, Albus pushed down on the left side of the touchpad, and grinned proudly as the screen changed to ask them to enter their destination airport. 

After going through the whole letter-finding key-tapping airport-selecting process once again, they were at last prompted to choose a date for their flights. Albus carefully entered the dates they had agreed on many weeks ago, as they laid together on Scorpius’ bed in their dormitory back at Hogwarts. They were leaving next week, and returning two whole weeks after that. Once he had successfully navigated to the page where they could select the timing of their flights, Scorpius jumped to take over.

“Oh we have _got_ to go just before sunset!” Scorpius exclaimed. “It’ll be gorgeous, Albus, you’ll get to see a proper daylight view of everything as we go up and then there’ll be the sunset from up above the clouds and after that you’ll see how gorgeous the cities look at night!”

Scorpius had clearly given this a lot of thought, and a fond smile crept across Albus’ face. 

“Oh, or,” his friend continued, “we could go at sun _rise_! One flight at sunrise and the other at sunset! Although,” they added hurriedly, “I do suppose that flying at sunrise would require us to wake up at around 4am to get to the airport, which might be slightly problematic - this _is_ supposed to be a holiday, after all.” 

Albus turned to his friend, still smiling. “Scorpius,” he assured, “if you really want to get up at 4am to see the sunrise, we can do that.”

Scorpius looked at him, a soft expression on their face, and Albus’ insides warmed pleasantly. “Nah, it’s okay” they said, “I think sunset will be fine. Besides,” their voice took on a teasing tone, “I know you love your beauty sleep.” They both laughed, but Albus could tell that his friend appreciated his trust nonetheless.

Turning back to the computer, Scorpius rested their head on Albus’ shoulder as Albus scrolled through the list of possible flights on their departure dates and picked ones that would allow them optimal sunset viewing. 

“Huh,” said Albus as the screen changed, now asking them to _select your payment method_. “I have no idea what either of those things are.” 

He felt Scorpius huff in soft amusement on his shoulder. “A credit card,” they said, referring to the first payment option, “is what muggles use to pay for things without using physical coins. I think my Dad’s got one for when we need to buy things from muggles. Anyway, we aren’t using one of those,” they sat up and cocked their head at Albus, “as you would know from when my Dad explained about the second option here, frequent flyer points.”

“Ah,” said Albus, who had been rather overexcited in his attempt to remember everything Draco had taught them about how to use the laptop, and as such not fully comprehended his subsequent explanations. “Uh, yes,” he concluded eloquently.

Scorpius looked at him fondly. “It’s okay,” they chuckled, “I thought you might’ve been too enthralled by the inner workings of our dear laptop here to process the admin things Dad said afterwards. Essentially, because Mum, Dad and I flew so much when I was younger, the aeroplane company gave us these point thingies that we can use to book flights in the future for free. We were _frequent flyers_ ,” they said sagely, “and so they gave us ‘frequent flyer points’.”

Albus exhaled, shaking his head in wonder at his friend. “What would I do without you, Scorpius?” he asked.

Scorpius met his eyes and held his gaze for a moment, their expression shifting towards solemnity. “I hope you never have to find out,” they replied softly. Albus surveyed his friend’s face, seeing the faint lines of tension that had arisen between their eyebrows. He wanted to run his thumb over their forehead and smooth them away and so, on a whim, he did. 

“Hey,” he said, as Scorpius closed their eyes and leaned into his hand. “You’re not going anywhere. Well,” he amended, “you _are_ going to France,” he grinned and moved his hand back, lightening the air between them. “But I’m coming too, so that doesn’t count.”

Scorpius huffed good-naturedly, shaking their head. “Okay, let’s get France locked in, then,” they said, moving to click on the _frequent flyer points_ payment option. What ensued was what Albus hoped to be the final section of their plane-ticket-buying endeavour, the pair of them doing a lengthy search of the keyboard to find the letters to fill in their individual personal contact details for each of their tickets. Scorpius went first with no hiccups, but they were brought up short just as Albus was about to finish his section.

“ _Relationship to account owner: Please select,_ ” Scorpius read aloud, the words being the final prompt for Albus to fill in before they could confirm their booking. “Hmm, that wasn’t on my part of the form?” They scrolled back up to check the questions the two of them had answered for Scorpius earlier.

“Maybe it’s because you _are_ the account owner,” Albus suggested. “Y’know, as the one who has previously flown on the aeroplane.”

Scorpius hummed thoughtfully. “That would make sense,” they said, having confirmed that the question of _relationship to account owner_ had not, in fact, been asked of them. “Well, let’s look at the options.”

Albus navigated back to the final line of the page where there was a little downwards triangle next to the words _please select_ , and cautiously clicked on it. 

“Whoa,” Albus said, reacting to the extremely long list of options that appeared. Scorpius leaned in close to him to get a better look at the small text, their heads touching.

The options started off fairly normal with, ‘brother’, ‘father’, ‘daughter’, ‘husband’, ‘aunt’ and so on, until -

“‘Foster brother-in-law’?” Scorpius burst out incredulously.

“‘Great-great-aunt’?” Albus echoed, reading another option.

“Oh my lord, ‘cross-cousin’?” Scorpius rolled their eyes up to the ceiling, “They’ve really got everything in here - I don’t even _want_ to know what that means!”

Albus laughed as they kept looking through the options. “Hang on,” he said after a moment. “Are these all just family relationships?”

Scorpius furrowed their brow. “It looks like it? I can’t see anything like ‘friend’ anywhere.” They huffed dramatically and leaned forward, directing their words to the computer, “Why can I take my second cousin twice removed on an aeroplane but not my Albus, hmm?” 

Albus let out a puff of laughter before stilling as he processed Scorpius’ words. 

“Your Albus?” he asked softly.

Scorpius turned to him. “Of course,” they said, earnestly. “There’s not a better word to describe what you are to me, Albus, than Albus. You’re just… my Albus.”

The expression on their face was one of such open, loving honesty, an expression he knew from Scorpius indicated complete, unequivocal trust, that Albus was momentarily overcome by the enormity of such great devotion being focused on him.

In their shared silence, Scorpius reached up to touch his cheek. “And,” they said, “I’m _your_ Scorpius. I hope you know that.”

They lowered their hand and Albus nodded mutely, suddenly filled with a sea of emotions he could not hope to name or understand, emotions which filled him with a strangely familiar sense of... longing.

On the brink of overflowing, he looked away. He felt, rather than saw, the soft smile that grew on Scorpius’ face.

“Well,” Scorpius said, breaking the silence, “if they have _‘Albus’_ as an option to answer this question with, we’ve yet to find it. Let’s keep looking!”

Albus let out a small breath, half in laughter and half in relief at the reinstatement of their usual rhythm. He reclaimed the touchpad and began scrolling once again. 

“I wonder why it’s saying you can only take a family member?” he queried, circling back to their previous conversation. “I assume muggles go on planes with their friends often enough?”

“It’s true, they do,” Scorpius replied slowly, drumming their fingers on their knee in thought. “It must be to do with the frequent flyer points - maybe because they’re associated with my family we can only use them to buy tickets for others in my family?” They leaned back against the armchair, exhaling. “How vexing.”

“Not too vexing,” Albus said consolingly, feeling more at ease now that they were fully back on the topic of ticket booking. “We just have to choose an option that’s believable and then we’ll be fine.”

Scorpius’ eyes widened. “You think we should _lie_?”

“I mean,” Albus paused. “Yes? No, okay, look,” he hurried on upon seeing Scorpius’ increasingly amused-yet-skeptical expression. “It’s making us choose an option before we can confirm the tickets and it’s not like we can just magically add in a ‘friend’ option - no, Scorpius,” he said, moved to laughter at how their face had suddenly perked up at the thought of new uses for magic. “I am almost certain there isn’t a spell for that. But my point is, we can just pick a convincing option and all will be fine, it’s not like they’ll get us to show multiple birth and marriage certificates to prove whether it’s true or not.”

Scorpius hummed thoughtfully, and Albus suspected they were still considering the viability of casting a spell on the computer to get them to add an option for ‘ _Albus_.’ 

“Come on,” he said, nudging their arm with his own. “We choose an option and then, boom. To France we go.”

Scorpius smiled, laughter escaping them. “Oh, all right,” they relented. “You _are_ practically my family anyway. What option shall we choose?”

Albus felt a warm twisting in his chest at the casual truth in Scorpius’ tone, and hastily moved to continue the conversation. 

“Um, brother?” he suggested, pointedly not thinking about the resurgence of emotion within him.

“What, with our hair and height difference?” Scorpius rolled their eyes fondly. “Let’s at least try to choose something believable, Albus.”

Albus huffed amiably. “Fine, fine, you’re right,” he said, once again perusing the list. “Cousin, then?”

“Hmm, I suppose that could work. Oh!” Scorpius suddenly exclaimed. “Albus look at this one! ‘Domestic partner’,” they read out, pointing to where it was on the list.

“Domestic partner?” Albus questioned. 

Scorpius nodded, enthused. “We learnt about this in Muggle Studies! It’s a term used to describe two people who have lived together for many years, but aren’t married.”

“Huh, is that it?” Albus asked, thinking that this was rather out of place on the lengthy list of solely family relations.

“Well, usually the implication is that said domestic partners are in some sort of romantic relationship, hence why they’ve been living together so long, but,” they hastened to say, “there’s nothing stating that as a requirement. And, I mean, technically _we’ve_ lived together for the past seven years, so we wouldn’t even have to lie if we chose that option!”

“Wouldn’t we have to still be living together for that to work, though?” Albus asked, doing his best to conceal the emotions that had once again resumed rushing through him at these newfound implications of him and Scorpius being dubbed domestic partners. 

“Yes, technically,” Scorpius replied. “But it’s perfectly acceptable for domestic partners to spend some periods of time away from each other. We could just be on a little hiatus from our shared domestic abode. Hypothetically, that is. If anyone asks.”

They gave a nod halfway between solemnity and playfulness that was so earnest, so quintessentially _Scorpius_ that Albus felt a sudden wave of fondness overwhelm him, so powerful that it prompted the ocean of emotions to swell within him again, taking his breath away. He looked into the eyes of this person who knew him so deeply, this person he cared for with every fibre of his being, and felt the world narrow until it encased nothing but the two of them.

Scorpius’ words echoed in his head. 

‘ _Let’s at least try to choose something believable, Albus.’_

The two of them. Domestic partners. Something believable.

_‘My Albus.’_

The dam broke inside Albus; all the love, all the joy, all the wonder and confusion and inexplicable, unnameable longing bursting from within him as he looked into Scorpius’ eyes, leaned forward, and kissed them.

And, oh, it was wonderful. 

Scorpius gasped softly and before instantly moving, reaching up to Albus, one hand finding his hair and the other cradling his cheek. They were so _close,_ with Albus’ arms wound around Scorpius’ body, pulling them ever closer together as their lips brushed. Scorpius’ thumb softly stroked across his cheek and Albus felt himself melt into their touch. He let out a soft sigh at the tenderness of it. Never before had he felt so utterly safe and secure as he did in this moment, enveloped by the person he trusted most in the entire world.

Eventually, Scorpius pulled back slightly, and moved to lightly press a trail of kisses across Albus’ freckles. Albus sat, nuzzling against their forehead, eyelashes fluttering against their skin.

“Hi,” he breathed.

Scorpius leaned back. “Hi,” they replied, and a smile crept across their face. “So, not cousins then?” they quipped.

Albus burst into shocked laughter and buried his head in Scorpius’ neck. “You are the _absolute_ worst,” he said, but tightened his arms around them anyway. They stayed like that for a time, holding onto each other - breathing, existing together for a brief, eternal moment.

“I’ve always wanted to kiss your gorgeous freckles,” Scorpius eventually murmured into Albus’ skin. “I think I’m going to do that a lot now,” they said, pulling back slightly and looking into Albus’ eyes, “if you’ll let me.”

Albus let out a short breath of surprise. “You’ve… wanted to do this? Before?”

Scorpius nodded. “Your freckles haunt my dreams,” they said with mock solemnity, before tilting their head and looking at Albus sincerely. “But yes, Albus. I have.” They reached up to brush a strand of hair from his forehead. “You’re one of the most important people in my life,” they said. “Our friendship is more special to me than anything, but” they paused, their voice softening. “I had hoped. I had hoped that maybe, with time, we could have this, too.” They smiled and leaned forward to rest their forehead against Albus’.

Albus took in a shaky breath. “I -” he began. “I just. I’m with you, Scorpius, and I feel _so much_.” He leaned slightly into Scorpius, who returned the pressure reassuringly. “I haven’t been able to sort it all out in my head yet but, I think, being with you. It feels - _right_.” He leaned back and took Scorpius’ hands in his. “I think that… you’re one of the most important people in my life, too. And,” he added, squeezing Scorpius’ hands resolutely even as his face became bashful, “I would love to let you continue kissing my freckles.” 

Scorpius’ face lit up like the sun and, beaming, they leaned forward to do exactly that. 

“Albus?” Scorpius asked, after they had tenderly kissed all the way across Albus’ face.

Slightly dazed from Scorpius’ ministrations, Albus simply hummed his acknowledgement.

“Does this mean you’ll be my domestic partner?”

Albus blinked before rolling his eyes affectionately, and could not have stopped the smile that crept across his face even if he’d wanted to. “Yes, Scorpius,” he said, his voice tinged with fond laughter. “We can select the ‘domestic partners’ option.”

“Oh, wizzo!” they exclaimed as they leaned down to where the computer had been safely placed on the floor some minutes prior - their laps no longer being the stable surfaces they once were - tapped on ‘domestic partners’ and then hit the final ‘submit’ button on the screen. The two watched in excitement as the screen froze for a moment, then changed to show text declaring _Scorpius and Albus, you’re on your way to France!_

The pair turned to each other with matching grins.

“France!” Scorpius breathed in amazement.

“France,” Albus confirmed, and, with a rush of joy, leaned in to kiss them once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scorbus caught me unawares at 2am one night and told me that they were going to kiss in this chapter - and who am I to deny them that?
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope this chapter was able to bring some joy to you in these murky times. Tune in next time for scorbus plane station shenanigans as they make their long-awaited aeroplane flight!


End file.
